Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	law_n	subject_n	4,732	5	6.6515	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89517	A brief commentarie or exposition upon the prophecy of Obadiah, together with usefull notes / delivered in sundry sermons preacht in the church of St. James Garlick-Hith London. By Edward Marbury, the then pastor of the said church.	Marbury, Edward, 1581-ca. 1655.	1650 (1650)	Wing M566; Thomason E587_11; ESTC R206281	147,938	211

cast off the yoak of Rome and God caused a light to shine in darknesse and ever-since a face of the Church hath appeared gathering more and more fresh beauty and now we may say truly of our times the light never shone more clear in this Land then now it doth never more learning and never more communicated then now But beloved this will not serve our turne God must have as well a rule of our hearts as of our eares of our hands as of our heads Let us look to our example in my Text when God had restored this people to their land they established his Kingdome With publick Assemblies with fasting and humbling of themselves before God with confession of sinnes with weeping and mourning with solemne Vowes to performe all the Commandements of God They spent their time not all in hearing but in worshipping also of God They vowed not to make any marriages with such as were no profest subjects of the Kingdome of God such as was the marriage of Solomon with King Pharaohs daughter They vowed to keep the Sabbath holily to the service of God to deale charitably with their poor brethren To honour God with their riches setting apart a portion to maintaine the worship and publick service of God And all this must we do if we will advance the Kingdome of God amongst us not only in outward profession but in inward subjection You may know a true subject of Gods Kingdom by his walk and by his pace for he walketh 1. Circumspectly fearing danger before him to meet him behind him to follow him above him to presse him downe under him to blow him up temptations on his right hand provocations on the left hand therefore he loseth no time but redeemeth it to the service of God 2 He walketh in holines as in the sight of God who searcheth the hearts and reines and cannot be deceived with false semblances and emptie shadows and seemings of false and hypocriticall shewes but requireth truth in the inward parts He walketh in righteousnesse that is in the obedience of the Second Table of the Law living in the practise and exercise of his knowledge to the uttermost of that measure of grace that is given to him as it becometh the Saints For these know that they were therefore delivered from the hands of their enemies that they might more freely attend the service of God and the saving of their own soules Amongst such as these God reigneth and hath put on his glorious apparrel and is acknowledged God as their King Idolatry and false worship doth unking and dethrone God and trespasseth the majesty of our King swearing and blasphemy maketh the name of God which is the safety of his subjects for our help is in the name of the Lord like to a broken hedge Breach of the Sabbath which is Gods holy day is a trespasse against his moderate prerogative claiming some part of our time for his publique service and the exercise of Religion Contempt of the word is a trespasse against the Lawes of this kingdome Injury in any kind to our brethren is breach of peace amongst the subject of this kingdome Gluttony drunkennesse pride be wastfull sins and consume the outward treasures thereof and they also seem to quench the Spirit of God and to kill all good motions in our selves and others Let us remember our prayer adveniat Regnum tuum Let thy kingdome come And seeing God hath graciously establisht a Church amongst us in peace which he hath watered with early rain in the first coming thereof in this Land and with a later raine in the Government of two incomparable Princes truly called defenders of the Faith against Heresie and Schisme Let the kingdome be the Lords let our obedience to his Law bear witnesse of our Faith and let our peace amongst our selves give testimony of our charity and let us walk all one way like the horses of Pharoahs chariot let us all fight as one man against sin and Sathan against the Devil and the Pope tanquam acces ordinata For if the Lord be our King we shall have cause to be glad thereof For Blessed are the people that are in such a case blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God 2. Let us look as farre as we can by Saint Pauls prospective there will be a time when Christ our grand Captaine shall overcome all his enemies even death which is the last enemy and then shall he deliver up the kingdome to God even his Father then Israel shall have judged Esau the Church the world Then Christ resigneth his office of a Mediator and then God is all in all For then all his enemies shall be in prison in the chains of darknesse all his Elect shall be fastened together and united with Christ their head in glory God shall then have none to contest with him for sway and domination his glory shall then be great in the Salvation of his Church and in the Victory of his enemies Thus have I in a few months gone through this short but full and pithy Prophecy of Obadiah I know with what great comfort light and delight in mine own meditations I hope not unprofitably for you If you desire many houres work in a few minutes of time this is the Analysis of it It was divided into two parts 1. Titulus the Title 2. Vaticinum the prophecie 1. The Title shewed 1. Whose Obadiah 2. What. 1. Whose Obadiah Doctr. God stirreth up his servants the Prophets to give warning of the Anger to come 2. What a Vision Doctr. The faithfull Minister must see before he say and take instructions from God before he undertake to teach others 2. The Prophecie this hath two parts 1. Against Edom ad finem ver 16. 2. For the Church ver 17. ad finem In the first observe three things 1. The subject of this Prophecie Edom. 2. The suggestiorus of it The Lord. 3. The Prophecy it selfe 1. Of the subject Edom. Doctr. Riches strength honour Victory are not so pretious things as many do value them oftentimes they go away with them all a long time whom God hateth he saith I have hated Esau yet he had all these 2. Of the suggestour of the Prophecy The Lord saith thus Doctr. Gods Ministers must deale faithfully with the Church saying no more or lesse and in the same manner as God speaketh to them 3. The Prophecy that hath foure parts 1. The judgement intended against Edom v. 1 2. 2. The despaire of all Edoms hopes ver 3 ad 9. 3. The cause provoking God ver 10 ad 14. 4. Gods revenge ver 15 16. 1. The judgement intended contains 1. The discovery 2. The rumour it selfe 3. The effect 1. The discovery by a rumour from the Lord an Embassador sent among the heathen Doct. 1. The decrees of Gods judgement upon the wicked be constant and unchangeable Doct. 2. The consent of Embassadours all declaring the same judgement sheweth that the

if it be not white and ready for the fickle observe thine own wayes and works and see if they do not tell that the day of the Lord cannot be farre off There be that put this day far off from them that is by flattering themselves in their sins they make themselves beleeve that they shall not yet come to punishment Repentance only lengtheneth this day and suffereth it not to approach to us Such an one feareth not in die malo in the evil day 3. The extent of this judgement over all the Heathen Meaning he●e all those that have joyned together in warre against the Jewes See Jer. 25. Here is a Quaerie Did not God stirre them up against Jerusalem In this Prophecy he declareth how Jerusalem was chastened by the Heathen and doth not the Holy story say Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Iudah 2 King 24.3 Iudah well deserved this punishment and God justly inflicted it and the heathen were the rod of God wherewith he chastened Iudah yet this execution done upon Iudah by the heathen was impious in them for they made warre against Gods Church and sought the ruine of Religion it was covetous they robbed Ierusalem it was cruel they delighted in the blood of the Lords people it was proud they insulted over them It is true that these heathen do not go without God to invade Iudah true that he sent them to punish the transgressions of his people true that they are the rod and sword of God for so David confest that God bade Shimei to curse him The Lord hath sayed unto him curse David 2 Sam. 16.10 As in the Creation God separated the waters from the face of the earth and called the gathering together of the waters Seas yet David sayes God hath set them their bounds which they cannot passe nor return to cover the earth Yet they would cover the earth Surely the wicked are resembled to the Sea in every consideration the Church may be compared to the dry land God holdeth the wicked in that they cannot droune this dry land yet this they would do for there is a naturall antipathy in the heathen to the Church of God When the Church sinneth God openeth a gap and letteth his Sea break in he suffereth the wicked to scourge the Church when it defaulteth for both their sakes that he may execute his judgement upon both and as Augustine saith Vtitur Deus malis b●●● In the story of the Iudges we read how the Concubine of Micah the Levite was abused to death in Gibeah which being complained of to the rest of the Tribes by the Levite they sent unto Benjamin to deliver up to them those men of Belial that had done the villany Jud. 20.13 that they might put away the evil from Israel But Benjamin would not heare their Brethren but prepared to put themselves in Armes and to go out to battail against the children of Israel The children of Israel arose and went to the house of God ver 18. and asked counsel of God and said which of us shall go up first to the battaile against the children of Benjamin And the Lord said Iudah shall go up first They went and Benjamin destroyed that day two and twenty thousand men The children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord untill even and asked counsell of the Lord saying ver 23. Shall I go up in battaile against the children of Benjamin my brother And the Lord said go up against him They did so the second day and the children of Benjamin destroyed of Israel eighteen thousand men Here was nothing done without consulting of God God bade them go and yet they prospered not yea they lost in all forty thousand men There is no cleere expression in this story to declare why God punished Israel with this great effusion of blood Plain it is that Gods purpose was to punish Israel and first the Tribe of Iudah but the Text sheweth 1. That the cause of this warre was a just provocation there was villany done in Israel 2. That the end of this war was godly for it was to remove evil from Israel 3. That they did nothing herein without Gods expresse warrant for they began to take counsell of the Lord. Yet before God would revenge the fault of the Benjamites upon them by Benjamin he punished the Tribe of Iudah first and then the rest of the Tribes with losse of so many men and effusion of so much blood And I must tell you that I find not the reason thereof exprest It may be that the Holy Ghost hath suppressed it that we might rest in the feare of God and not search further it is enough for us to know what God doth and not why for as Augustine saith Iudicia Dei occulta esse possunt injusta non possunt esse Gods judgements may be secret but never unjust And we must be very tender how we call God to accompt for what he doth for God is whatsoever his will is of which we must not seek to know more then is revealed for that is prying into the Arke and costeth death God is accomptable to none for what he doth The third day he gave Israel a full victory against Benjamin by Benjamin He first scourged Israel and by Israel he after destroyed Benjamin and left of them but six hundred men So may we say of this example in my Text God useth the heathen to scourge his Church and after destroyeth the heathen in his just but secret judgement Yet let me tell you what some learned judgements have conceived of that great example of justice in that story of Israel and Benjamin Rabbi Levi saith that Israel might provoke God at first because they came to God to aske who should go first against Benjamin and did trust to their own strength and did not beseech God to give them victory Rabbi Kimchi saith it was because that Israel had suffered Idolatry in Dan and had never taken the cause of God to heart to aske counsell of God against them i●● but now in a private injury done to a Levite they were provoked and sought revenge 3. Others conceive that this was the cause They came too slightly to God at first for they did only bluntly enquire who should go first against Benjamin Not whether they should go or not Not enquiring by what way he meant to punish their brother But the second time they went up to the Lord they wept till even and then they asked counsell Shall I go up again in battaile against my brother Yet even then being commanded to go they lost eighteen thousand men True but they came not the second time with that preparation which became them that would sight the Lords battails to remove evil out of Israel for the third day they mended all Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto the house of God and wept ver 26. and